ITHACA, N.Y. (Dec. 2, 2013) – Researchers in developing countries will have enhanced access to agricultural research literature and a previously unpublished trove of information, thanks to a $4.9 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

TEEAL was founded in the early 1990s, on the belief that long-term improvements in food security and agricultural development would not be possible without giving scientists better access to current research. It is a searchable, offline, digital library available to public and nonprofit institutions in income-eligible countries.

The first set was shipped in 1999 to the University of Zimbabwe on 172 CDs, weighing 50 pounds. The library now includes over one million articles in more than 250 highly ranked journals, delivered on a single small 1-terabyte hard drive.

With funding from the three-year grant, staff at Mann Library will completely redesign the TEEAL system to include more material, including previously unpublished information collected by the Gates Foundation during many years of work in the developing world, as well as valuable local scientific literature that is not currently disseminated. The foundation’s reports and documents will also be made available for free via the web, as part of a new online digital library.

“Access to these reports and documents coming out of other Gates-funded agricultural development projects, in addition to the research literature, provides material that can help researchers and policy-makers move from research into practice,” said Mann Library Director Mary Ochs.

Starting in January, Mann Library and ITOCA will begin working with universities, agricultural ministries and extension organizations in Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina Faso and Bangladesh to provide enhanced access to the system.

The ultimate goal: 300 institutions with copies of a new and improved TEEAL, as well as training for more than 22,000 students, faculty, researchers, extension staff and government officials. The project also aims to create a self-sustaining model that expands the knowledge base far beyond what is normally possible when outside trainers come in and offer single workshops.

“With this grant and the training it will support, many researchers stationed in academic and research institutions where Internet connectivity is still a challenge will have an opportunity to participate in up-to-date global research and address local challenges,” said Gracian Chimwaza, Executive Director of ITOCA.

This is the second grant Mann has received from the Gates Foundation. In 2009, a $1.8 million grant allowed TEEAL and ITOCA to distribute 115 new TEEAL sets in 14 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.